What some people refer to as an H-back in my mind is a tight end type player that lines up as a fullback giving you that beef in the backfield - seems to me if I remember rightly - we saw it a lot in the heavy jumbo package...

Rich in Roanoke
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Skinsfan55 wrote:I hear a lot of people talking about Joe Gibbs liking to use an "H-Back"

What exactly is that?

I get the impression that it's a type of hybrid TE/FB how would this player be used in a game?

(Seems to me if it IS a half TE, half FB then Mike Sellers is the perfect canidate...)

Your right in that the H-Back is a hybrid TE/FB he can lead running plays like a FB, line up in the slot, line up as a TE, or often is the motion man for the offense to get a running start to go out for passes or get to a linebacker on running plays.

Totally agree that it used to be, but now it's just become another synonym for a running back, and more often than not, the backs they are referring to are definitely not your late 80's prototypical hybrid back.

I think that's where the confusion comes in. Like all vernacular, overuse has broadened it's meaning and lessened it's descriptiveness.

Anyway, according to what all of these men say the "h-back" would apperently be bryan johnson, if he stays on the team. Gibbs actually mentioned him as a player he saw playing out of the tight end posision for catching purposes.

An H-back is a pass-catching TE. The position is named after Dan Henning, who was offensive co-ordinator (or "assistant head coach / offense") in the early Gibbs days, left for a year or two at Atlanta, and returned before SB 22. Now with Carolina, I think.

Henning and Gibbs had a two-back standard NFL set, with Joe Washington and John Riggins. Little Joe was small, fast, shifty, a good receiver, and a pathetic blocker. Riggins was big, strong, fast (no, I'm not kidding), good blocker, and among the worst receivers ever. Hands of stone.

Gibbs and Hennings considered it, and decided that they were losing production when they had Washington block for Riggins. They decided to play a second TE, on the grounds that a TE catches passes better than a FB, and blocks better than a halfback.

Riggins became the main running back, and Washington replaced him whenever Gibbs wanted to an extra fast receiver (ah..."rocket screen" I think it was called) or wanted just to shift gears.

I think Rick Walker was the first H-back. Think of Walker lining up on the left, going in motion to the right, turning, going left, and leading John Riggins off-tackle. Now imagine Washington leading that play (even if he had not been limited in SB 17 by a knee injury).

Afterward, the position stuck. George Rogers replaced Riggins, and Kelvin Bryant replaced Washington, but Clint Didier became the model/template for the H-back.

When Gibbs ran the three-wide-receiver set (was it called "Posse"?) he used Art Monk as H-back. Monk was big for a wide-receiver, and he could block, so running The Posse was not an admission that the Redskins would be throwing.